Keys to winning tournaments after 30: preparation, recovery and ‘one hole at a time’

Nick Nosewicz of Lenny’s Golf won CGA Match Play by listening to his body and getting it ready to compete

By Jasmine Ying

 

On the final day of this year’s Colorado Golf Association Match Play Tournament, golf-shop owner Nick Nosewicz approached the 9th green and was surprised that his mother Patty stood nearby watching.

Patty Nosewicz had come out to Columbine Country Club to watch her 39-year-old son compete in the match on her 70th birthday. When he saw her he yelled “Happy Birthday Mom!” across the green before setting up to take his putt.

“It’s a special experience to have your parents watch you,” Nick Nosewicz said. “It made it feel like I was playing for them.”

He could feel himself getting emotional. His mom doesn’t like to watch him play out of  fear that she may cause him to choke. But she had come out to support him, on her birthday no less. 

Nosewicz sank the putt. He was up two holes with nine to play on T.J. Shehee, who just completed his senior season on the University of Northern Colorado golf team. 

Nosewicz won the CGA Match Play that day, beating Shehee 2 and 1. The victory made  him the oldest person to win the CGA Match Play since 1987. 

Going up against collegiate players who typically are able to dedicate much more of their time to the sport is no easy task; amateur players above the age of 30 seldom win tournaments like this. Nosewicz, who is the co-owner of Lenny’s Golf Shop in Aurora, said training and preparing for a tournament like this is “tough because of obligations.”

He said he has to work while still spending time with his family and training to play in golf tournaments. It’s a lot to balance, but Nosewicz said he still has a drive to compete even if he can’t play all the time. He said that because he isn’t playing golf every day like some of the younger players he enjoys it more when he gets out on the course. 

“Golf is a blessing,” Nosewicz said.

To be able to compete Nosewicz said he had to prepare. He said he needed to be in the best condition he could be, and dedicated time to swing speed training because he needed more power. 

Nosewicz said another key to competing into his 30s is you have to “find the week where your body is right” and train as much as you can when your body will allow it. The other thing that comes with age – recovery – is something Nosewicz focused on the most. Each evening of the tournament he spent refueling on electrolytes, taking ice baths, icing anything that was sore, and going to bed before 9 p.m. 

Nosewicz said he woke up extra early long for weeks before the tournament, so his mind and body would be used to it and could better acclimate to early-morning conditions. “I held up really well [and] I felt strong,” Nosewicz said.

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Colorado AvidGolfer Magazine is the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it, publishing eight issues annually and proudly delivering daily content via coloradoavidgolfer.com.

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